Life after Helsinki 2007 Eurovision

Finland's national selection for Eurovision song contest 2026  or UMK (Uuden musiikin kilpailu) took place in Tampere tonight and was won by pre-contest favorites Linda Lampenius and Pete Parkkonen and their Liekinheitin. Or rather they swept the floor with the other ones by winning both jury and televotes with a huge margin.  Special guests were last year's UMK winner Erika Vikman (11th in ESC) with last year's Eurovision winner JJ, Finland's Eurovision 1985 represent Sonja Lumme and quartet of leading Finnish rappers Elastinen, Ares, Turisti and Averagekidluke .  Out of 491 submitted entries a panel of 9 members along with five audience groups selected the seven entries for the final. Linda Lampenius & Pete Parkkonen emerged instantly the runaway favorites to win the selection gaining more Youtube views in 24 hrs than any other UMK entry ever and also reaached one million streams in record time. They also became international favorites pushing Finland to #1 in od...

  Norway had its national final for Eurovision song contest 2026. Jonas Lovvw on Melodi grand prix with Ya ya ya.  The final songs were selected among some 1.500 submissions shortlisted to 16; eight made the final directly, the other eight had to go through a radio competition in duels until one was left, that being Skrellex. Read more here . Among the competitors previous Eurovision winner Alexander Rybak and Eurovision veteran Marcus & Martinus little sister Emma, both being the favorites to win as well. Final (jury + tele) Skrellex - Into the wild (15 + 30) 45  7th Hedda Mae - Snap back (11 + 4) 15  8th Storm - Lullaby (14 + 36) 50  6th Mileo - Frankestein (54 + 35) 89  4th Silke - Forevermore (0 + 4) 4  9th Alexander Rybak - Rise  (66 + 126) 192  2nd Emma - Northern lights (28 + 99) 127  3rd Leonardo Amor - Prayer (60 + 13) 73  5th Jonas Lovv - Ya ya ya (96 + 196) 265  1st to be updated 

The 76th Sanremo festival comes to an end tonight. The 30 Big artists will perform once again and are voted by the holy threesome: Press, web and tv (33%), radio (33%) and televote (34%). the votes will be added to those of the first, second and third night and the final ranking will be revealed from 6th palce to 30th. The Top-5 will face another three way voting that is added to the previous votes and that will finally give us the winner and other placements. The winner may or may not go to Eurovision 2026 in Vienna. (Vai Sal!!!) Several other awards will be handed out for best music, lyrics, arrangements etc. Giorgia Cardinaletti and Nino Frassica will be co-hosting. Andrea Bocelli will be the musical guest while I Pooh (the most sold Italian group ever before Ricchi e Poveri including Eurovision veteran Riccardo Fogli) will be performing on Suzuki stage outside Teatro Ariston and Max Pezzali still aboard the cruise ship.  In pole position are Fedez & Masini, Arisa and Serena...

Finland's national selection for Eurovision song contest 2026  or UMK (Uuden musiikin kilpailu) takes place in Tampere tonight in Tampere arena to sold out crowds.  Special guests are last year's UMK winner Erika Vikman (11th in ESC) with last year's Eurovision winner Austrian  JJ, Finland's Eurovision 1985 represent Sonja Lumme and quartet of leading Finnish rappers Elastinen, Ares, Turisti and Averagekidluke. It's worth remembering JJ's staging and even outfit was made in Finland last year with UMK team.  The show is hosted by Jorma Uotinen, Sami Sykkö and Jasmin Beloued. Read more about them here . Out of 491 submitted entries a panel of nine members along with five audience groups selected the seven entries for the final. Linda Lampenius & Pete Parkkonen emerged instantly the runaway favorites to win the selection gaining more Youtube views in 24 hrs than any other UMK entry ever and also reached one million streams in record time. They also became inter...

Lithuania's long selection process Eurovizija.LT  for Eurovision song contest 2026 came to an end tonight and the winner is Lion Ceccah. He won the televote and was second with juries. Shwr won the jury and was second with televote but televote rules and Lion was declared the winner. He's no stranger to the contest as he was runner up last year and has participated multiple times before with different names I recall, Alen Chicco being at least one of them. And Tomas Alenčikas his real name. A total of 40 songs competed in pre-recorded five semi-finals and a wildcard round before the live broadcasted grand final with 11 songs (top-2 of each semi-final plus the wildcard round winner): Rug!le, Atikin, Black Biceps, Shwr and    were the semi-final winners while   won the wildcard round. Read more here .  Final results (jury + tele): Noy - Stand up   (0 + 0) 0  11th Rug1le -  Ikona Žemaitė   (4 + 3) 7  8th Atikin -  Degant...

The 76th Sanremo festival continues with the Covers night that no longer (hallelujah!) has no effect directly on the scoreboard but is a separate competition with its own winner and Top-10 announced. The competing Big artists have chosen a song to their liking and invited Italian or international artists to perform together. That brings many Sanremo veterans and regulars back on stage in Teatro Ariston: Morgan, Pupo, Fabrizio Moro, Giusy Ferreri, Gaia, Gianluca Grignani, Brunori Sas, Fiorella Mannoia, The Kolors, Michele Zarrillo, Alex Britti along with international stars like Gregory Porter. Morgan was supposed to be there with Chiello (Remember Dov'è Bugo? Where is Bugo? incident a few years ago?) but after rehearsals he withdraw because he didn't want to shadow the artist with his own talent"... Yeah. Right.  The competition itself sees Arisa, Serena Brancale and Fedez & Masini reaching Top-5 both nights and therefor are in pole position while Sal Da Vinci mania ke...

The 76th Sanremo festival continues and the remaining 15 Big artists will perform again and be judged by Radio (50%) and televote (50%). Once again the Top-5 will be announced in random order. The Newcomers final will take place and the two winners of yesterday's duels will battle it out with the holy three way voting: Press, web and tv (33%), radio (33%) and televote (34%).  Co-host will be supermodel  Irina Shayk and Ubaldo Pantani. There's also Virginia Raffaele and Fabio De Luigi. Musical guests are Eros Ramazzotti  (celebrating 40 years of his win with Adesso tu) with Alicia Keys. The Kolors will perform outside Teatro Ariston on Suzuki stage and Max Pezzali still on the cruise ship. Laura Pausini will sing Heal the world with children's choir Piccolo coro Antoniano.  Some are calling the viewing figures a flop but 9,053.000 watched the second night with a share of 59,5%. The peak was 13,706.000 and the share peak 66,1% while Lillo was doing his comedy. Laura Pa...

The 76th Sanremo festival continues tonight. The Newcomers will kick of the evening with two duels with the winners going to the final. The voting is the holy threesome: Press, web and tv (33%), Radio (33%) and televote (34%). Half of the Big artists will perform again and are voted by Radio (50%) and televote (50%). Again the Top-5 will be announced in random order. Co-hosts are Pilar Fogliati, Achille Lauro and Lillo. Bresh will perform outside Teatro Ariston in Suzuki stage and Max Pezzali again on the cruise ship.. Apparently Eurovision veteran Fausto Leali will be present and receive a life time award. The first night was watched by 9,6 million viewers with share of 58% compared to last year's 12,6 million so 3 million viewers  were lost. The peak was 15.782.000 during the 105 year old lady's interview while the biggest share 64,5% during Leo Gassmann's performance. Laura Pausini did not sing last night but tonight this will change as she will be dueting (at least) wit...

  Here are the Sanremo 2026 music videos in one place for your enjoyment....

 Here are the Sanremo 2026 music videos in one place for your enjoyment....

The 76th Festival della Canzone Italiana di Sanremo kicks off tonight. A total of 30 Big artists and four Newcomers will battle out the victory in two categories and a string of other awards, and of course the ticket to Eurovision song contest in Vienna as a bonus -  if they wish so.  Carlo Conti, the artistic director, will be hosting all nights with Laura Pausini, already the hostess of Eurovision song contest in Turin, with other co-hosts for the various nights: Can Yuman, Pilar Fogliati, Achille Lauro, Lillo, Irina Shayk and Gianluca Gazzoli among others. Carlo is doing it for the 5yh time (2015-17, 2025-26) and according himself for the very last time. It is already rumored next year's host would be Stefano de Martino with someone else being the artistic director.  Among the Big artists debuting are Bambole di pezza, Chiello, Eddio Brock, Luchè, Maria Antonietta & Colombre, Nayt, Samurai Jay, Sayf, Tommaso Paradiso and Tredici Pietro. All the others have already ...